Novelisations of the movies...

I really like the top one, with the spines.

 

The TMP novelisation was etched in my memory where it mentioned how Kirk got his first name - "James because it was both the name of my father's beloved brother as well as that of my mother's first love instructor".

 

Thank you Great Bird! GR was an interesting fellow at the best of times. But I can't imagine that the 70's was a helpful influence on the man. Some people need breaks more than they need axle grease.

 

Indeed! And a very convenient coincidence, to say the least, but let's hope Kirk's mum kept that to herself ...

"Oh, hubby! Yes, 'James' is the perfect name! I love it ... literally."

 

Your flickr site has me sold! And, if you'll permit me to post it, for anyone else who might be interested in this unique novelisation of STAR TREK: The Motion Picture, here's the link to some great movie stills accompanying it:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/therinofandor/albums/72157681185517246

 

I take a majority of the novels at face value, basically it's possible it happened but what is on-screen is canon.
I usually take the name of several characters (i.e. Jedda, Madison and March from STII's full names) and possible professions as possible but interpret most as an ellusion to what might've happened.

I also consider Saavik to be a Vulcan-Romulan hybrid. That's still a canon thing to me.

 

I'm astonished that that's even an issue. Not only was it part of the original script, other novels have taken it and run with it. OTOH, it does seem to have fallen out of favor in later years. Proving that 80's fan Trek is better.

(Now Valeris in TUC being half Klingon or raised by Klingons or whatever it was is obviously nonsense.)

 

According to the TUC novelisation, Valeris was raised on a border world and given a Klingon name by her Vulcan parents, who had hoped to establish good relations with the Empire despite the tensions of the 2250s thru 2280s. That failed, the border world was attacked and Valeris' parents were killed and she got sent back to Vulcan.

 

There was even a scene filmed for TWOK that described Saavik as half Romulan.


Kor

 

I re-read The Motion Picture novelization recently. I found it added a lot to the movie (did it make it more exciting? No.). Oh, Decker went THERE with the Ilia probe?! It also better explained that Enterprise actually shot past V'ger and then approached it at warp speed from behind as both traveled to Earth. The woman in the transporter accident with Commander Sonak was actually Kirk's love interest (perhaps his ex-wife, I've forgotten exact details).
I found it interesting and amusing Sulu was the only one not to show any reaction to Ilia being Deltan. Maybe there was some insight some of the rest of us didn't get till later.

I read the original crew movie novels many years ago. I'd like to revisit them sometime. I never read the Next Generation novels or the Kelvin universe novels. If I find them, maybe I'll pick them up sometime.

 

Yep. That's the one. Thanks!

One of us is misremembering Sulu's reaction. They even filmed the scene where Sulu is a flustered mess and Ilia has to reassure him that she's "safe".

In the novel Kirk and Sulu both have a *ahem* physical reaction to the navigator. Kirk decides he'll stay sitting to maintain his dignity as Captain. An option he notices that Sulu doesn't have.

Kirk's former wife was Vice Admiral Lori Ciana. They had a "standard contract marriage" that ran until both parties decide not to renew. Again, an idea that I could see having some appeal to GR.

 

Sulu's eyebrows look rather raised when he first sees Ilia: http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=9&pid=339#top_display_media

There's also this deleted scene:


Kor

 

That's the one I'm talking about.

 

Page 78. Uhura has announced, "She's a Deltan."
... "only Sulu did not react, apparently attaching no special significance to Uhura's comment."

In the pages that follow, he does indeed fumble and embarrass himself just as in the movie.
I remembered the above quote, but not in context. In context, it's just that her being Deltan doesn't seem to have any special conotation to him.

 

"Why? What's tequila?"

 

McIntrye's not alone. J.M. Dillard put references to The Lost Years in her novelization for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The backstory she developed for the Vulcan mystics of Gol in The Lost Years she worked into the backstory she developed for Sybok. You're right, it wouldn't happen today, the studios are more protective about novelizations, but reading the books at the time I thought it was great to see the works linked together like this.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but The Lost Years was after TFF. Certainly by publication date.

 

By publication date, yes, by about five months.

Novelizations are written on a very tight timeline. The initial meetings for The Lost Years (the series) were in 1987, and Dillard would have finished (or been very close to finishing) The Lost Years by the time she started work on the film novelization.